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A perspective on war

One of the most sad and disappointing aspects of war is its awful uncreativeness as a solution to conflict. In an age of innovation and technological wizardry it is so awfully sad and grey that creativity focuses on the weaponry feeding an approach to problem solving that, far worse than any moral consideration, is so cliched and rehashed. The idea that two conflicting sides should fight it out on the battlefield, is so disappointingly OLD that increasingly levels of violence and damage seem more to do with adding a bit of spice and drama to a tired old script, than actually creatively and innovatively solving a problem.

There are ways to address conflict that we haven’t even begun to consider yet.

I would suggest that such conflicts would be better solved through the joint creation of gorgeous and shocking deep and radical psychodramas, the devising and enacting of awesome dances on huge stages, the construction of music that smashes boundaries, rips away assumptions and, through rhythm and groundbreaking melody, forces conflict out into the open, resolving through beat and note.

Then of course poetry or the creation of resonating structures fueled by engineering excellence could allow us to build mechanisms that, through their inherent design, would resolve conflict in self-referring cogs and wheels, chips and virtual worlds. The creative solution to war is to raise conflict to the level of an art that is powerful enough to confront and overcome.

The weapons of the future will, I hope be open spaces and stories, symphonies and exhibitions, installations and virtually stories and myths, future legends made through the power of present-minded innovation and creativity.